By MH Staff - Posted on 14th October 2012

1 Front squat

BEST FOR: CORE STRENGTH AND LOWER-BODY MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT
By placing the bar on the front of your shoulders, you force your torso to stay upright. This requires and builds both core strength and stability.
AVOID IF... you have hip or abdominal injuries. With the bar balanced directly above those areas, you'll be putting a lot of pressure on them.

RANK

FORCE 2/4
QUADRICEPS 2/4
HAMSTRINGS 4/4

2 Bulgarian split squat

BEST FOR: BALANCE, QUADRICEPS DEVELOPMENT, AND FAT LOSS
Because it works one leg at a time and requires more balance, you can't use much weight. But you compensate by working your quads harder and doing twice as many reps per set.
AVOID IF... you're most interested in pure strength and power; you need heavier weights to achieve those goals.

RANK

FORCE 1/4
QUADRICEPS 4/4
HAMSTRINGS 1/4

3 Back squat

BEST FOR: FUNCTIONAL LOWER-BODY STRENGTH
Decades of sports science has correlated squat strength with speed, power, and athletic performance. With the back squat, you generate a lot of force through your leg muscles – so with practice, you'll be able to squat a lot of weight.
AVOID IF... you've had back pain or injury. The bar on your shoulders compresses your disks.

RANK

FORCE 3 out of 4
QUADRICEPS 1 out of 4
HAMSTRINGS 3 out of 4

4 Wide-stance squat

BEST FOR: PURE STRENGTH AND LOWER-BODY MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT
The wide stance brings your inner-thigh muscles into the exercise, allowing you to lift heavier weights and build muscle more quickly.
AVOID IF... you have back or shoulder problems. The extra weight means extra challenge for the joints that have to support the weight.

RANK

FORCE 4/4
QUADRICEPS 3/4
HAMSTRINGS 2/4

You know squats are essential. But they come in so many variations – how can you tell which one is right for you?

Chris Proulx, a professor of movement science and his students tested five different squats – the four freestanding versions shown here, plus one machine exercise. (See “What about Machines?”) Volunteers performed the exercises standing on force platforms, which are high-tech devices that measure the pressure exerted through a lifter’s feet. The researchers also attached electrodes to the volunteers’ legs to see how hard the moves made their quadriceps and hamstrings work. Their pain, your gain.